FC St. Pauli

Head coach Timo Schultz made four changes to the side that lost in very disappointing circumstances in the DFB Cup at Elversberg last week, bringing in Daniel Buballa, Rico Benatelli, Jannes Wieckhoff and Rodrigo Zalazar for Philipp Ziereis, Marvin Senger, Afeez Aremu and Boris Tashchy.

Bochum, who won their first-round cup-tie 3-0 at fifth-tier FV 07 Engers, sought to dominate early on in front of 3,500 home fans. The Boys in Brown were having none of it, however, and in an entertaining opening phase they showed plenty of attacking intent without ever threatening. The first opportunity of note fell to the home side on the quarter-hour, but Holtmann’s shot from a right-wing cross was defused by Robin Himmelmann. Soon after, Sebastian Ohlsson had to dive in to prevent his side from going behind with a last-minute intervention. The Swede was soon in the thick of things at the other end after some neat link-up play involving Kyereh and Wieckhoff, but his angled drive was no problem for Bochum keeper Manuel Riemann.

The home fans finally had cause to celebrate in the 26^th minute when Robert Zulj curled a free-kick in from the left and ball flew past friend and foe alike to sneak in at the far post. What followed was a series of midfield skirmishes in which neither side was able to carve out any meaningful chances, ensuring the Boys in Brown went in a goal down at the break.

A hard-fought first half.

Both teams emerged unchanged for the second half. Bochum hit the ground running and immediately fashioned an opportunity for Simon Zoller at the back post following a foray down the left flank. The striker met the ball first time, but his effort ended in the seats. There was little goalmouth action to speak of in the ensuing period, and though Schultz’s side shaded the possession, they lacked precision with the final ball.

With 65 minutes gone, Dittgen tried his luck from the edge of the box but was unable to keep his effort down. Then, substitute Finn Ole Becker found Kyereh with an exquisite dinked pass. Unfortunately, the ball came down slightly behind the striker, meaning he was unable to steer his shot on target.

Instead of it being level, the home side doubled their advantage six minutes later. Ganvoula took advantage of a wayward pass out of defence to burst into the box and square the ball for Zoller to tap home from close range. It looked all but over at 2-0 but Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Co. had other ideas. In the 84^th minute, the former Wiesbaden man smashed the ball into the roof of the net from close range after substitute Lukas Daschner had been denied in brilliant fashion by Riemann. And then, just two minutes later, he latched onto a delightful pass from Daschner, who had been found in space by Becker, and with just Riemann to beat kept a cool head to level up at 2-2.

Kyereh almost crowned a remarkable comeback with a third goal on the stroke of full-time. Paqarada dispatched a pinpoint pass to the striker at the far post, but he was unable to find the net from a tight angle and his effort found the side netting. The Boys in Brown then survived a high-octane three minutes of stoppage time to take a hard-fought point back to Hamburg.

VfL Bochum

Riemann - Gamboa, Lampropoulos, Leitsch, Danilo Soares - Losilla, Tesche, Zoller (Bonga 79’), Zulj, Holtmann (Blum 82’) - Ganvoula

Head coach: Thomas Reis

FC St. Pauli

Himmelmann - Ohlsson (Lankford 83’), Avevor (Ziereis 83’), Buballa, Paqarada - Benatelli, Knoll (Becker 65’) - Wieckhoff (Zander 77’), Zalazar, Dittgen (Daschner 77’) - Kyereh

Head coach: Timo Schultz

Goals: 1-0 Zulj (26’), 2-0 Zoller (76’), Kyereh (84’), Kyereh (86’)

Yellow cards: Losilla – Ohlsson, Avevor, Paqarada

Referee: Robert Schröder

Attendance: 3,500

Photos: Witters